WWYCD: Red Garden

[David Johnston]

Assume that your character is in a very large city and he or she sees a group of teenage girls walking down the street around midnight. They seem a bit stressed, and one of them has a baseball bat. If you take a close look, they seem a bit mismatched. One of them looks pretty much like a streetwalker, one of them is the jeans and sweatshirt type, another is in fashionably expensive capris and the last is wearing a polka-dotted dress that screams "I'm a good girl, I am." There's none of the standardisation of style you'd expect from a high school clique. Also, they seem to be looking up in the air at something you can't see.

 

As they walk along, they encounter an unarmed nutjob who as he sees them, growls like a werewolf and charges very fast. The girls do not seem to be surprised by this, and the sweatshirt girl pulls a knife. Both the crazy guy and the stressed-out girls seem fully intent on killing each other.

 

What do you do?

 

(Red Garden is a Japanese cartoon series)

[Kevin Schultz]

Re: WWYCD: Red Garden

 

In reading up on Red Garden, it sounds like they're a bunch of normal heroes (75+75) with Unluck: get jumped by the supernatural, as well as GM-designed powers that they're granted. The things they go up against are tough, but managable for a group of 4 non-optimized PC's. Also, the group doesn't seem to exist in a "superheroes are known" type of universe, which kind of has their story working at cross-purposes with the traditional superheroic genre. But anyway...

 

Jake the Troll - "Ladies! Wassup! Hey, nice baseball...stop that. No, really, stop. Would you cut that out? Hey, I liked that shirt! My mom made that for me!" Jake is a cosmic-level supernatural being, and as such would show up on any mana-radar any of them would have. After the initial (and inevitible) case of mistaken identities, Jake would let them pray to him if they wanted to, as long as they agreed to go to Mass and confession. (Which, if they're in New York and fighting the supernatural, probably isn't that bad of an idea to begin with.) If anything supernatural happend while he was around, he'd casually smack whatever it was into the ground.

 

Shinji Miromoto - would simply fry whatever it is they were attacking, assuming it was malevolent. Unlike Jake, who merely LOOKS monsterous, Shinji actively gives of negative vibes. They'd probably attack him as well. But he's a professional, so he'd casually dance around them, disarm them, while spouting a combination of zen platitudes and villianous dialog. Then he'd ask one of them on a date. He'd probably end up as some sort of mentor/ally to the group.

 

Icon - is a low-level cosmic energy manipulator/brick, and as such can innately sense all forms of energy (including magic). She is a well-known and well-regarded hero in the area. The teenagers would likely identify her, and ask her for help. If they told her their story, she'd try to hook them up with the Special Case Squad, her police contact for metahuman-related activities.

[Hermit]

Re: WWYCD: Red Garden

 

Aquatic would try to save the girls, and probably have to deal with Archer's snickering later.

[Stone]

Re: WWYCD: Red Garden

 

Quantum - Would defiantly stop the guy charging the girls (entangle, if that didn't work, then a couple AP EB hopefully would), then find out what the girls were doing there. If they attacked him, then a healthy dose of entangles all around until he could figure what was going on.

 

Stone - "What, ya gotta pick on girls?" and with that he would "gently" encourage the charging guy to go unconsious. If the girls attacked him he would first be surprised, then annoyed. If one of them managed to do some damage, then he would get really annoyed "I didn't save your underage butts for you to attack me!" (double hand smash into the ground) WHAM! (gotta love area effect). Then he would take the weapons away from the sleeping beauties and call for the police to come pick them up.

 

Spectre - Protect the innocent. The man must be put down quickly (entangles and END drains). If the girls attack, then they are not innocent and would share the same fate (area effect darkness, entangles, & end drains). Once the fight was over, he would question one or two of the girls to find out what was going on (PRE drain 1st)

[David Johnston]

Re: WWYCD: Red Garden

 

The girls do not attack the superhero/vigilante unless he has a Looks or Reputation disadvantage that might lead people to fear him. However, their first reaction on seeing the hero (assuming he's flesh and blood) is to say, "Oh god, what if it bites HIM?". Three of them fiercely attack their opponent while the fourth (the one in the "good girl dress") frantically tries to stay in between the crazy guy and you, begging you to go away. The crazy guy seems to be moderately super strong and fast, has at tendency to lope on all fours at times, and his eyes really reflect any ambient light. His vocabulary seems to be limited to "grr". The girls...well the girls seem like they can really take a pounding for otherwise normal people and seem to want to finish their opponent off.

 

If intimidated, (which isn't difficult for the typical person with superheroic presence), the girls tell you that the things they fight look like they're people, but they aren't.

 

Oh, incidentally, if you have an ability to detect magic, all participants reek of it. If you are a mentalist (or consult one concerning a captive crazy guy), there seems to be nobody home in his brain. Just a bundle of murderous reflexes.

[Metaphysician]

Re: WWYCD: Red Garden

 

Microman II: Doesn't really patrol, or have a Secret ID, so if he's about at full size, he would have been noticed first. Thankfully, he's pretty obviously not supernatural, and famous too, so no danger of attack. The werecritter probably gets put down by him first, and he'd try to stop them from finishing it off. After that, its "contact Horus-Re for advice" ( mysticism isn't his specialty ), and "arrange help and aid for the new teenage superteam."

 

Hermes: Okay, the moment the monster pops out, he's down. Odds of the girls attacking Hermes next, negligible. Would he be overly surprised by the idea of a horrible monster popping up? Nope, must be Grendel about. Would he stop them from killing the critter? Not likely. Beyond that, depends on the details of what he's doing in the future, and who his contacts there are. He'd try and get the girls in touch with a Chosen mentor.

[Robyn]

Re: WWYCD: Red Garden

 

The crazy guy seems to be moderately super strong and fast' date=' has at tendency to lope on all fours at times, and his eyes really reflect any ambient light.[/quote']

 

Oh, good. With your original post it seemed as if this was just some lunatic

 

Oh yeah . . . and, what exactly is the difference between a werewolf's growl and a normal wolf's growl that our characters would recognize it?

[Weldun]

Re: WWYCD: Red Garden

 

The Specter would probably jump onto Mr. Growl'n'snarl and basically help the girls out. With "good-girl" trying to stop him, he'd hyperboost so as to be able to do so without her getting in the way, but would adjust his tactics to a more supportive role (delayed interupts with grab-bys on any of the girls who's about to be hit, grab-bys on girls who've been knocked down. Hmm, grabby old fart, aint he? ) Then he would probably refer them to a superintendant and part-time tailor he happens to know (his secret ID) who could outfit them with some clothing more suitable clothing for their nocturnal pursuits. Other than that, he would make some inquiries, and try to become a sort of mentor for them, expecially if they figure out the he and the Specter are one and the same, but almost definitely if they figure out that there's only been one Specter since the first reported sighting in the late 19th century.

 

Swarmling. Assuming that this is happening in Kingdom City instead of New York, it would simply begin to pound the freak into the pavement, starting with a surprise vertical movethrough. Then he would have to deal with residents of him freaking out over the fact that a swam of rats wearing a hooded trenchcoat just jumped on their intended target. How would they react to that?

 

Weldun (Gasp) would leap into the fray, swinging his zweihander like it was a child's toy, causing mr crazy many burns along with the usual messiness caused by such a large blade. If these things take any extra damage from holy weapons, it'll apply, but also, if their "shapeshifters" in any sense (being that they have to have some form of innate shapechanging ability, not from an external source) it'll really rip him open. As for miss Good-girl trying to get in his way, he'll chalk it up to the weirdness of this strange land of horseless carriages and giant metal flying carpets that he has found himself in and say "Miss, it is my sworn duty as a Templar of Marfa that the Sonenschwert and I slay any and all dark creatures that would crawl and prey upon the innocent."

[SKJAM!]

Re: WWYCD: Red Garden

 

Mask of Justice (We'll presume the girls' fashions are consistent with the Golden Age setting): Due to his special abilities, will see the truth of the situation--including any invisible entities present. The first order of business is putting down the apparent lunatic, so gas gun it is. The girls will likely recognize the Mask (he gets in the papers a lot) but he'll detect as "magical" if they are able to detect that. After the immediate threat is dealt with, the Mask will try to learn what the girls are up to.

 

Since this is the Golden Age, he sees absolutely nothing wrong with enthusiastic teenagers going out to fight evil, even if they have no actual superpowers (and if they do, so much the better) and will offer to give them training and advice. The first advice, of course, will be to don colorful costumes and masks, like proper mystery women.

 

Calculus: Will assist from the shadows, using his super-brain to calculate the man's weak points, and throwing his strike spheres to hit those points. He'll stealthily follow the girls around (note: does not detect as magic) to learn who they are, what they're doing and why. Calculus will not confront them until he's already learned as much as he can without actually speaking to the girls. This could be tricky, as Calc is an "urban legend" character, and they might not believe he's real.

 

Rock Bottom: Will wade right into the fight, carefully putting aside the girl trying to deter him. His stony body should protect him from the man, though he'll pull his punches until he's sure that the crazy guy can take it. Rock's not magical either, for what that's worth. After the fight, Rock will try to talk to the girls to find out what's up. As one of the official protectors of Baltimore (and the girls will recognize him as such, he's pretty distinctive), Rock needs to know about any menaces. He can refer them to the Venture Institute, his alma mater for training in their abilities.

 

Kira Midori: Is a psychic cop. Her precognition no doubt led her to this area, and her telepathy will quickly establish that crazy guy is not in control of his actions. She'll use her blaster (set on stun) to help bring down the poor fellow, then talk to the girls. Kira's something of an idol to the teenage girls of her world, but is also a police officer, so it's a tossup how well that will go.

 

Kira will refer the girls to the local teen hero team for assistance and training.

 

Talion: Is highly supernatural, so may set off the girls' alarms, especially given his luck. In this scenario, the lunatic probably winds up dead when he starts tearing into the apparently helpless human who just wandered by. If the girls don't outright attack Talion, they'll probably just run off while he's healing up to avoid questions.

 

SKJAM!

[Zed-F]

Re: WWYCD: Red Garden

 

If Soulbarb takes the fray, they will most likely attack her. However, her Soulsight will definitely tell her something's up, especially with Mr. Snarly, who probably doesn't have one. She'll most likely follow them from the shadows for a bit to see what happens; if they look competent to deal with the threats they're going after, she'll likely leave them alone. She started out her vigilante career at age 14, why not them?

 

Sylph will tie up Mr. Snarly in a hedge so fast that he won't know what hit him. Since he's low-powerd and has no obvious weapons like claws or anything, he probably won't be able to get out quickly, if at all. She'll call UNTIL to get him taken away. If the girls try to kill him anyway, she'll tie them up as well, at least until they calm down a bit. Sylph really doesn't like killing.

[Pattern Ghost]

Re: WWYCD: Red Garden

 

My character doesn't know the girls are from an anime, and likes dogs. He'd attack the girls.

[Lethosos]

Re: WWYCD: Red Garden

 

I'm just glad I haven't finished Arachnos Jones yet... think they'd stop for a guy with the head of a giant spider?

[David Johnston]

Re: WWYCD: Red Garden

 

Anyway, I started out trying to figure out how to design the girls of the Red Garden, and I realised it can't really be done. Here's the setup:

 

The girls are revenants, brought most of the way back from the dead to kill the beast-men. However the only thing that keeps them alive is their own will to live. If they do not risk their lives on a regular basis, they lose will-to-live, and eventually they'll just passively let themselves be killed or if nobody does the service for them, they'll commit suicide. As they continue to fight they get more and more powerful, but if they lose morale and start thinking about how futile their situation is, they'll also lose will-to-live. For some reason drinking lemon juice helps prevent this, which frankly I find the weirdest part. But there's another danger as well. If they start feeling that they are on their own and can't rely on each other they'll start to go into berserker rages and eventually will become what they are fighting if they retain their will-to-live. Therefore the girls have to stick together to stay sane and alive. (It's a Japanese thing. The team is indispensable. And since the girls are American, they have a little trouble mastering this concept.)

[input.jack]

Re: WWYCD: Red Garden

 

My first thought would be "what are Faith, Buffy, WIllow, and Cordelia doing in my campaign city?"

[Drhoz]

Re: WWYCD: Red Garden

 

Vitus : Stun the lot of them into unconciousness, and since an unprovoked attack on a numerically superior group is hardly the action of an intelligent being, take a running kick into his testicles to teach him to be more thoughtful in future.

 

Then hand them over to the relevent authorities and wash my hands of the situation.

[hfergus]

Re: WWYCD: Red Garden

 

Olorin - "Fireball!!" - no really, he can see magic and would gas the baddie if they were too close. He would use the fireball if they were far enough away. He would not have to get too close so being blocked would not apply - also he can fly and t-port if need be. He'd be intrigued with the girls, and give advice. He could end up being a knowledge contact for them - or vice versa.

 

Volt - Zap! Lightning form the sky (him). Then he'd figure out what's going on. He's fairly well known, and they would know who he was.

[Comic]

Re: WWYCD: Red Garden

 

Highguard: Well, if the girls have it handled, why interfere? If they need help, why not. The assumption being that growling men leaping unprovoked at girls in the dark is a bad thing.

[Jinx999]

Re: WWYCD: Red Garden

 

The problem with this is that the description fails to capture the full messed upness of the show.

 

1) The girls are not physically or mentally remotely up to the task.

 

2) They are the walking dead.

 

3) The transformed guy is a more-or-less innocent victim of a curse.

 

4) The girls have to beat him to death with their bare hands. Or a baseball bat.

 

5) Or die.

 

It's only superficially a superhero story.